Financial Contrast: Cheniere Energy Partners (CQP) versus Its Peers

Cheniere Energy Partners (NYSE:CQP) is one of 23 public companies in the “Natural gas distribution” industry, but how does it compare to its competitors? We will compare Cheniere Energy Partners to similar businesses based on the strength of its earnings, valuation, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and dividends.

Dividends

Cheniere Energy Partners pays an annual dividend of $3.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.9%. Cheniere Energy Partners pays out 67.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Natural gas distribution” companies pay a dividend yield of 2.8% and pay out 48.2% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Risk & Volatility

Cheniere Energy Partners has a beta of 0.73, meaning that its share price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cheniere Energy Partners’ competitors have a beta of 0.86, meaning that their average share price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Cheniere Energy Partners and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cheniere Energy Partners	2	0	0	0	1.00
Cheniere Energy Partners Competitors	426	1042	876	36	2.22

Cheniere Energy Partners currently has a consensus target price of $50.50, indicating a potential downside of 3.29%. As a group, “Natural gas distribution” companies have a potential upside of 8.30%. Given Cheniere Energy Partners’ competitors stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Cheniere Energy Partners has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Profitability

This table compares Cheniere Energy Partners and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cheniere Energy Partners	31.28%	-328.60%	13.93%
Cheniere Energy Partners Competitors	1.82%	-15.64%	0.53%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

46.5% of Cheniere Energy Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 58.2% of shares of all “Natural gas distribution” companies are owned by institutional investors. 14.1% of shares of all “Natural gas distribution” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Cheniere Energy Partners and its competitors revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cheniere Energy Partners	$8.93 billion	$4.25 billion	11.28
Cheniere Energy Partners Competitors	$15.01 billion	$1.14 billion	18.57

Cheniere Energy Partners’ competitors have higher revenue, but lower earnings than Cheniere Energy Partners. Cheniere Energy Partners is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Cheniere Energy Partners competitors beat Cheniere Energy Partners on 11 of the 15 factors compared.

About Cheniere Energy Partners

Cheniere Energy Partners, L.P., through its subsidiaries, provides liquefied natural gas (LNG) to integrated energy companies, utilities, and energy trading companies worldwide. The company owns and operates natural gas liquefaction and export facility at the Sabine Pass LNG Terminal located in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. It also owns a natural gas supply pipeline that interconnects the Sabine Pass LNG terminal with various interstate pipelines. The company was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas. Cheniere Energy Partners, L.P. is a subsidiary of Cheniere Energy, Inc.